Sweet 30: Best 30 places visited

The past thirty years in the life of anjči have been busy as far as travel is concerned. I may have only got the travel bug at (what then seemed a very respectable age of) 23, but the catching-up has been impressive. See my fridge – not the smallest of the race to begin with, it is now almost entirely covered in souvenir magnets. From Syria to Greenland, from Cuba to Vietnam, from Brazil to Oman – the list of the places I have visited is diverse and full of surprises even to myself.

And yet when I try to pin these places on the map, I cannot help thinking that, despite my best efforts, I haven’t really been anywhere yet. There is the entire Sub-Saharan Africa waiting to be explored. Or the vast territory of South America outside Rio de Janeiro. Or the seemingly unreachable Australia and New Zealand. Or the whole of Russia west of Vladimir, my mother’s home city. Or Central Asia, where the numerous “-stans” have oh so enticed me over the years. Or, of course, the USA west of DC and Canada east of Calgary. Or bits of India I have so far only seen in my dreams.

In short, there is a very long way before I can start calling myself well-travelled. Luckily, being 30 is, in itself, no reason to end my travels: in the next two years alone, I am hoping to visit China, North Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Namibia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Chile and Bhutan – which should bring me somewhat closer to that title. I will not be able to visit every single country (not that I would want to, either), but, another 30 years down the road, I will hopefully be able to say that I have at least tried.

I will be turning 30 tomorrow. In a humble pursuit to make a sort of recap of all my travels to date, I have selected 30 places that have fallen into my mind so much I would not hesitate to revisit tomorrow (well, subject to visa limitations, of course). The list goes from cities to regions and even entire countries. Figure it out for yourselves – here goes, in an order no other than alphabetical:

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(1) Andalucia, Spain

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(2) Copenhagen, Denmark

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(3) Cyclades, Greece

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(4) Damascus, Syria

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(5) Faroe Islands

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(6) Golden Circle, Iceland

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(7) Havana, Cuba

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(8) Ilulissat, Greenland

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(9) Khiva, Uzbekistan

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(10) Koyasan, Japan

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(11) Kyiv, Ukraine

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(12) Lofoten, Norway

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(13) Malta and Gozo

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(14) Mumbai, India

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(15) Muscat, Oman

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(16) Nafplio, Greece

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(17) Ohrid, FYR Macedonia

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(18) Penang, Malaysia

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(19) Rajasthan, India

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(20) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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(21) Rockies, Canada

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(22) Saigon, Vietnam

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(23) Saint Petersburg, Russia

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(24) Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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(25) Svalbard, Norway

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(26) Tbilisi, Georgia

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(27) Tulum, Mexico

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(28) Umm Qais, Jordan

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(29) Venice, Italy

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(30) Vukovar, Croatia

It has been a fun 30 years. Hasn’t it? Here’s to another, well, few years of wild long-haul adventures – and to a great many years of relaxed road trips through Europe and the UK in a family van.

Goodbye, my beautiful, exciting 20s. Let’s see what happens now!